James Sutter's page

James Sutter wrote:

After all, you don't have to name every muscle in your leg in order to kick somebody in the face.

James, if we could have sigs on these boards, that would totally be mine.

Aww, shucks.... :) How's life in the great northern wilderness treatin' ya? It was most depressing that you had to book it right after we started gaming together... you did hear that I accidentally got your character in Jason's game killed, right? She made a heroic last stand, and I ran like a frightened schoolgirl. :) How's the hubby/freelance/etc?

-James

James Sutter wrote:

Gavgoyle wrote:

James Sutter wrote:

(P.S: Wes and I both have bumper stickers that say "u r teh suck!!1!1!oneone!!". I'm not even kidding.)

U R teh l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!

Oh man... " l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!" See, THAT is why I became a Creative Writing major right there. Awesome.

"Dungeon and Dragon: 'cuz we r0x0rs ju b0x0rs...."

-James

I rarely have problems with crytograms but you guys have passed me in both lanes. My kingdom for a translation (warning, to accept my kingdom you will have to assume its debts).

The final example looked something like D&D: cuz we rockers your boxers. If that's what you said I find it a bit psychosexual and perhaps even more disturbingly, somewhat true. A fresh issue of Dungeon or Dragon in the mail and I could lift a car off a pinned dod without using my hands, man.

Whoah... too much information there... but at least we're doing something right.

So a quickie translation lesson - l33t sp33k (pronounced "leet speak") is a now-somewhat-cliche computer gamer/hacker language that substitutes numbers and symbols that look or sound like letters for the letters themselves, while also incorporating a good amount of slang, abbreviation, and intentional misspellings based on common typoes of the QWERTY keyboard... still with me? Here's the breakdown on the above examples:

"u r teh suck!!1!1!oneone!!"
u = "you"
r = "are"
teh = "the" (common typo)
suck = "suck" (some things are universal)
!!1!1!oneone!! = emphasis... originally people would be typing a bunch of exclamation points and wind up slipping off the shift key, causing the "1" to show up in its place. l33t hax0rs ("elite hackers") then began doing it on purpose, at which point even MORE l33t hax0rs began writing out the word "one" to make fun of it. (Much of this language is based off of self mockery... the main reason I enjoy it so much.)
END RESULT: ""u r teh suck!!1!1!oneone!!" = "You suck!"

" l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!"
This one's ever better... check it out:
l33t = "elite" (the hax0r term for "awesome", used ad nauseum)
Gr4|\/||\/|@r = "grammar"... this one's just beautiful. The 4 looks like an A, the slashes make the shape of two "M's, and the @ has an A inside it... thus "grammar"
boi$!!1! = "boys" - playful misspelling plus the $ in place of an s.
END RESULT: " l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!" = "Elite grammar boys".

Can you see why I find freestyle talking and l33t sp33k so amusing? It's essentially taking normal English and making it a code/visual art.

Just out of curiousity, anyone ever used this kind of thing in their D&D games? I know I've been tempted....

-James

Gerund...uggh..something about turning nouns into verbs. A verb that used to be a noun?

Edit: No, it's the other way 'round (I had to look it up). A gerund is a noun that used to be a verb. i.e. "The choir sang with great enthusiasm. Their singing roused the whole congregation." "Sang" (or sing) is a verb, and "singing" is a noun derived from that verb - a gerund.

Like I'll ever need to know that again...

-Amber S.

Man... gerunds.... I've gotta throw my vote in with Amber and Hal here and say that, while arguing grammatical things can admittedly be fun, dissecting a sentence and being "proper" is far less important than knowing how to use language effectively. After all, you don't have to name every muscle in your leg in order to kick somebody in the face.

Which, when you get right down to it, is what I try to do every time I write. Kick somebody in the face.

-James

(P.S: I wonder if that explains all those rejection letters on my floor? Hmm....)

James Sutter wrote:

(P.S: Wes and I both have bumper stickers that say "u r teh suck!!1!1!oneone!!". I'm not even kidding.)

U R teh l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!

Oh man... " l33t Gr4|\/||\/|@r boi$!!1!" See, THAT is why I became a Creative Writing major right there. Awesome.

"Dungeon and Dragon: 'cuz we r0x0rs ju b0x0rs...."

-James

I assume the answer's "yes" but as I couldn't find it mentioned in the submission guidelines I thought I'd ask.

Do submissions have to be in American English? As opposed to real ;) English of course, rather than as opposed to Mandarin, Yiddish, Tagalog, or whatever :)

I don't think we turn people away for excessive use of the letter 'u' in their proposals (sorry, no armour classes or colour sprays here), but yes, American English is preferred, as it is the dialect in which our manuscripts are published.

Of course, you ARE talking to somebody who thinks freestyle talking is a legitimate sport, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I guess what I'm trying to say is: chill, B - we ain't got to be all up in yo grill just 'cause you front the wack island speak. We're l33t enough to be down with ya'll rockin' the crumpet, aight?

Haw, skeet.

-James

(P.S: Wes and I both have bumper stickers that say "u r teh suck!!1!1!oneone!!". I'm not even kidding.)

Scott Lewis wrote:

The first one is a general grammar and style book, and it states that you do use a comma before the "and." The second is the AP stylebook, and it says you do not. My question therefore, for the porposes of Dungeon magazine, do I, or do I not, place a comma before the "and?"

For questions like this, oftentimes the easiest way to find the answer is to look through a recent issue of Dungeon for an example. Opening 126 to a random page (31) we see: "The reptiles give the harpies a safe place to sleep, tasty carrion to eat, and occasional humanoid sacrifices to 'play' with, and in return the harpies watch over the lair at night."

From that, you can deduce that the Dungeon style does place a serial comma before the “and,” and therefore you should as well.

Sorry James.

Oh man, here it goes... editorial catfight time! ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?????

Actually, as it turns out, Jeremy's right and I'm wrong- regardless of what other style guides may say, Paizo and WotC roll with the "use serial commas" policy. To which I say... screw you, English degree! Four years of college - wasted!

More importantly, however - Jeremy's strategy of looking at a recent issue is pretty much a good policy with all questions you may have about what we're looking for, and I stand firm by the policy that, as long as you have the writing skillz and quality ideas, we'll take care of the nitpicking for you. That's why we get paid the big bucks (ha!).

The exception, of course, is margins - any manuscript without margins of exactly 0.92357 inches is automatically rejected out of hand. Sometimes we burn them and dance around the flames.

Keep at it, and I'll catch ya'll on the flip side....

-James

Thanx Sean!

I just sent the eMail to customer service!
Your list is helpful there, I hope!
Let's see what happens...
I don't want to call them, because I life in Germany.

But maybe Erik or James will still give me an answer here. ;)

Emailing you as we speak... don't worry, we've got you covered. :)

-James

While proofreading my submission an interesting question came up. A few people with more formal education than myself commented that I used too many commas, which is probably true. They said that I did not need to use a comma before the "and" in a series, while I believed I did. So because I don't have a masters degree, or any other kind for that matter, I resorted to my normal means of reference, books. I have two desk references for grammar on my desk. The first one is a general grammar and style book, and it states that you do use a comma before the "and." The second is the AP stylebook, and it says you do not. My question therefore, for the porposes of Dungeon magazine, do I, or do I not, place a comma before the "and?"

Can I just say how thrilled I am that Paizo messageboards have become a place where we can discuss grammar? I'm not even kidding.

So the whole deal with placing a comma before the 'and' in a series (i.e. "I like pizza, apples, and fries" vs. "I like pizza, apples and fries") borders on being a matter of taste... people may have strong opinions one way or another, but picking which authority you'll appeal to is your call. Personally, I go with the AP on this one, but the important thing to remember with Dungeon is that if we don't like your comma (or anything else you throw in there)... we'll take it out. :) No submission, to my knowledge, has ever been rejected due to that particular style point. (Now, if you're one of those people who sprays commas randomly at a page like buckshot, I can't make the same promise... I'm a prose guy all the way.)

So yeah - when in doubt, kill the comma before the "and" and don't worry about it.

-James

In the past, I've sent submissions to dungeon@paizo, but recently, I sent a batch to gatekeeper@paizo, per the Tips for Contributors thread (or one of those). I just realized that James Sutter was an intern, and may not be working there anymore/much longer. . . is gatekeeper@paizo still preffered, or should they go the dungeon@paizo?

Thanks.

James Sutter's still here (and full time now!), but I have gotten bounced around a bit. :) Jeremy's once again the first line of defense against an overflowing slush pile, but if you have any issues with shipments or subscriptions, I've got your back....

-James

I'm a new subscriber to Dragon. How long does it normally take to receive an issue after Paizo shows it shipped? The last issue shows a shipping date of 8/2 so I was wondering when I would get it. If your location matters I'm in PA. Thanks!

For US addresses, it generally takes up to two weeks - if you haven't seen 335 by the 16th, just drop me a line at customer.service@paizo.com and we'll get a replacement issue in the mail straightaway. Thanks!

-James

My favorite suggestion... One page explaining how to effectively DM a particular monster. Not a new monster, but one we already know. Ideally, the monster would be one featured in an adventure in that month's issue. (New monsters would be fine in that case.)

While I'm not sure exactly what Wes has planned, it sounds like the newer Ecologies are going to be headed firmly in that direction (as opposed to the traditional "vs." section that really only speaks to players). Still, as the Ecology is one of my favorite sections, I wouldn't mind seeing an extra page devoted to them, either!

-James

Hunter wrote:

What happens after the manuscript is submitted? Does it go straight to an editor for revisions and, well...editing? Or do all the manuscripts from a similar time period go into a pile and await a manuscripts meeting, as with queries?

I managed to film one of their submission meetings in secret. Unfortunately, the film was destroyed under mysterious circumstances so I can only give you a written account of what happens.

First, they get James Sutter to go to the seedier side of Seattle and get an ounce of good dope. Then, they pile the submissions high on a circular table and give thanks to the Grand Pooh-Bah (Erik). Then James Jacobs begins cutting up the weed and passes it to Mike Mearls who uses the submission papers to roll huge joints.

These joints are then lit by a sacred wand from Bic and then passed on to Erik.

Come morning, any papers that are left, become next months Dungeon magazine.

Hmm... certain elements are correct... yet how on earth do you expect the Dungeon and Dragon editorial staff to afford drugs? Come on, people, where do you think we work- Wendy's? We don't have that kind of cash lying around.

There IS, of course, a certain amount of human sacrifice to an idol of Erik, but those kinds of things are subsidized by Paizo. And if Mearls were involved, he would undoubtedly be the first of us to set fire to a manuscript... he's quite frank in his opinions.

-James Sutter

We worked our way up the tower and came into a room adjacent to an immense one-eyed goblin. The EYE!

After a bit of a quiet discussion, Sim snuck in invisibly. He then sidled into the room and it appeared that The Eye could see Sim! Unsure of what to do but with a mind filling with thoughts of glory, Sim charged the bloated goblin and slashed his terrible unholy sword with all his might. And missed. The Eye looked at Sim and grinned.

While I hesitate to speak ill of the dead, I think the people deserve to know what REALLY happened in that last fight.

Sim did, indeed, turn invisible and slip into the Eye's chamber, but there was decidedly little discussion - more of a "hey, why don't we... wait, where's Sim? Crap!" Once inside, Sim decided against whispering in the statue's ear and opening up the portal that would take everyone to the Cannith lab, opting instead to take try and end a CR 8 encounter with a single dagger thrust... against a guy who can see invisibility... and has a giant flaming axe... and a couple of shaman... and a legion in the next room so large that not even Jason Buhlman's massive mini resevoirs could accurately represent it.

Once that failed, the rest of the party was faced with a decision - let Sim die, or save him and smack him around a bit ourselves? While The Kid (having had his share of issues with Sim) knew which side he was on, Mike Mearls' wizard made an extremely persuasive argument (consisting entirely of "You *$%@&! You're the %#*$@$ fighter! Get the #%#^ in there!"). Thus The Kid went against all his training and raced into a toe-to-toe slugfest with the baddies... only to watch Sim hop, skip, and prance backwards towards safety. While The Kid was able to held his own for a while, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the brave Chuko, he eventually fell to the Eye's axe as well, thinking all the time that in his last stand he might finally have repaid his debt of honor to Ursula for her fatal rearguard action. Only Adso's timely intervention (and that of the medusa) kept The Kid from being thrown on the corpse cart as well.

So that's the REAL story. Chuko and Sim were good men/birds, if both a little bonkers, and as soon as the party returns home, their funeral pyres will be of magnificent proportions.

And Chuko's will probably smell delicious. Kentucky Fried Kenku....

Pity Dundjinni is ridiculously expensive and the maps are proprietary and can't be used in Dungeon...

Odds are that the final cartography for any given adventure is going to be farmed out to a professional along with the artwork, so the whole 'proprietary maps' issue isn't really one you have to worry about. As for the Dundjinni price problem- graph paper and a Sharpie, baby. They still work wonders and get your ideas across to the editors/cartographers.

-James Sutter
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

James Jacobs wrote:

since we'll want to present enough info in the magazine to run the city even if it's been extensively detailed elsewhere. (Unless it's an adventure that specifically supports a sourcebook, such as the Waterdeep adventures we're running in issues #126–#128.)

Hey James. I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but I have to ask about this. What?

You're going to set three adventures in Waterdeep and deliberately avoid giving us enough information to run it so we have to buy a sourcebook?

It could very well be that you didn't say it the way you mean it, or I'm interpreting it incorrectly, but I don't like the sound of it. I'm not a fan of the Forgotten Realms, but I understand that other readers are. If a Forgotten Realms adventure is good, I'll make it work in another world. Raiders of Galath's Roost (or something) was one such adventure. Still, I can guarantee I'm not going to buy any Forgotten Realms books. Even if I don't have enough books, I haven't been impressed by the quality - I looked through the Serpent Kingdoms book and there were so many obvious typos I wanted to scream.

Anyway, back on topic, can you rephrase that statement?

You know, if it were one adventure that supported a product, I don't think I'd mind much. Obsidian Eye is a great example. I know it was to support Sandstorm, but enough information was there to run it. There were some things that piqued my interest (and it is pique, not peak) but I chose not to buy the supplement, but I did run the adventure. If you're going to sell me the equivalent of an issue that I can't use because I don't own a supplement, I'll have to write at least one angry letter.

So, what's the deal?

Dude - give us a little credit. Do you really think we'd throw an adventure (let alone three!) in Dungeon knowing that a bunch of our readers couldn't use it without additional purchases? The pieces James is referring to are completely self-contained, but also include additional information/citations that help tie it in neatly to the Waterdeep book if DMs want to go all-out in making it a Waterdhavian campaign.

This magazine's here for YOU - believe me when I say that we honestly always have the readers' best interests at heart.

So yeah - hold off on them angry letters until you've read the first installment, then let us know if you're still disappointed! ;)

-James Sutter
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

Howdy folks-

We just finished with a submissions meeting, so a lot of you can expect to hear definite answers (either one way or another) within the next week or so. Be strong, my friends.

In response to Dryder - unfortunately, one of the perils of writing for a foreign market is that you tend to be judged against the native speakers. Neither Dungeon nor Dragon makes exceptions for language barriers, so be sure to proofread your query veeeeeeery carefully before you send it in. That said, however, keep working at it - you never know what might happen. Dragon editor Jason Bulmahn claims that he was reading German before he ever learned to read English.

The average time between proposal acceptance and manuscript submission is a couple of months - even the best queries generally have some changes that need to be made, and the editors understand that such things don't always happen overnight (though if they do, you'll earn serious rockstar points).

One more piece of advice for folks before I run off and play in Jason's Eberron game: I know that past incarnations of the submission guidelines encouraged folks to focus their query around lists of monsters and rewards. Please, please don't do that. Plot is where it's at, and there's no way to tell a good troll-infested dungeon from a bad troll-infested dungeon without a description of the game itself. I mean, really... would you want to pick your game based only on the monsters involved? That seems awfully "Diablo"-esque.

Alright, back to work. Later, everybody!

-James Sutter,
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

To all who are working on queries, I would like to give a word of warning. MAKE SURE YOU EDIT IT!

I recommend that once you've got it to the point where you think, "Ok, I'll send it!" DON'T send it. Walk away, leave it for a week or two. Don't think about it. Don't look at it. Just leave it rest. Then pick it up and read it through again and edit all the mistakes you missed!

Delgath's on to something here, folks. While the general attitude in these parts seems to be that a few grammatical errors in a query don't kill a great idea, they also don't help it any. The query's our only chance to see what you've got in the way of writing chops, and if we find 5 glaring errors in two pages, we can only assume that a 20-page adventure will have 50. If there's anything I've learned about writing for newspapers and magazines, it's that clean copy (meaning error-free text) and meeting deadlines will score you major points every time. After all, editors are lazy... when the choice is between two equally amazing ideas, one messy and one virtually error-free, who d'ya think's going to win?

The query's a first date - make it look pretty. We'll discover each other's warts and neuroses soon enough if you get accepted.

-James Sutter,
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

It's time the truth came out - Mike McArtor is not human. Designed in secret by the U.S. government, the McA-1 is a uniquely engineered ettiquete and hospitality cyborg, modeled on the Judith Martin/Ms. Manners design of the Cold War and implemented as part of a plot to make citizens of other countries so polite through his example that they're all busy writing thank-you notes when our soldiers invade.

I don't know how much time I have left - the office isn't very big, and Erik just gave him a wicked-looking shuriken from Origins - but the good people of Canada needed to be warned. Run, Hal! Get out while you still can!

-James

Hey everybody-

Just a quick note on something I'm running into a lot with the latest batch of submissions. I know that two pages can seem limiting, but it's extremely important to get as much of the adventure itself into the query as possible. Don't get me wrong - I love backstory - but I keep finding myself getting really into the setup for an adventure, only to arrive at the last paragraph of the query and read "then the PCs show up and make it all better". Regardless of how cool your backstory is, an adventure is not a short story - when in doubt, condense or sacrfice background description in favor of telling us about PC involvement... it's how the thing PLAYS that determines whether or not an adventure is something we want to pick up.

Along those same lines- if you condense the backstory and find that the section talking about the adventure itself is still "then the PCs go take out the bad guy", take it as a sign that the adventure itself could probably use some work. Adventure consisting of a single "go there/do that" check box rarely get my vote... twists, turns, and alternate ways to 'win' are vastly more entertaining where I'm concerned.

Actually, since I'm already here, let's discuss another biggie- presuming PC actions. In a word: don't. The whole reason we like D&D is because it allows us as players to do anything we want... right? So in your adventure, don't presume that the PCs are always going to follow the path you've laid out perfectly (which is yet another reason why "alternate victory conditions" are so cool). While I'm sure everybody's heard that before, what it means in terms of your query is that proposals heavy on "the PCs will follow the invaders back to their lair" or "the PCs will of course want to use the library" run the risk of drawing a "too leading" or "too straightforward/linear" comment from the dudes with the colored pens. Go ahead and talk about incentives for PCs to take various actions, but realize that being lead by the nose is rarely fun or effective... at least in my experience.

One last thing - if you find that your adventure centers entirely around a really cool villain, with the only real plot point being "the PCs go fight the bad guy", consider shelving the adventure and submitting your antagonist as a Critical Threat instead - you'll run a far better chance of getting it published, and it'll be vastly more useful and entertaining for the readers.

Alright, back to the slush pile - thanks to everybody for taking these comments in the spirit in which they are intended (i.e. trying to help folks get published). Good luck!

-James Sutter
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

Hey guys-

As I've been wading my way through the latest flood of Dungeon submissions, I've come up with a few new tips for contributors (in addition to those that I posted on the "Query Response?" thread). Check it out:

*PUT YOUR NAME AT THE TOP OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT - Make life easy for the editors - put your name at the top of the first page of the manuscript. Subs usually get printed out, and if we have to go back to your email, figure out who sent what, and write your name at the top of your manuscript, well... after fifty repetitions or so, we start to get grumpy.

*INCLUDE THE SDF FORM AS A SEPARATE FILE - It makes filing a lot easier if you attach the SDF form as a separate file. And while we're at it - what's wrong with Word documents for the query itself? Why ya gotta be flossin' the PDFs like that, makin' me open a new program?

*DON'T JUST PASTE YOUR QUERY IN THE EMAIL BODY - I presume that if you're going to be writing the adventure, you have a word processing program. Use it. (If you have no other option, well, okay, paste the query... but Santa Claus knows if you're lying.)

*PROOFREAD - Yeah, I said this before. I still mean it. "Mary, (had) a lid, tell lam" will get by spellcheck, but it makes us poor copyediting folks die a little inside.

Last but not least, one quick stylistic thing:

*SHOW, DON'T TELL - Instead of saying "a really cool trap" or "a mind-bending puzzle", give us a QUICK idea of what it involves ("a trapped tea kettle that explodes when someone says 'crumpet'" or "a musical puzzle based around a theremin-like orb" is plenty long enough for us to get the idea). Okay, neither of those examples are partiularly cool, but we get a dozen proposal a day saying "these items/traps/puzzles are so incredible that mere words cannot describe their glory". Some, invariably, are not. Describe accordingly.

There's plenty more where that came home, but it's Friday and I'm going home... happy 4th of July, everybody! IN YOUR FACE, KING GEORGE!

-James Sutter
Dungeon Editorial Intern

Has the email address (dungeon@paizo.com) for query emails changed or should I just be a little more patient in waiting for a response (its been a little over a month now)?

Thanks

N

That address is still fine (though gatekeeper@paizo.com is even better) but please be patient - in general, it's a good idea to wait about three months before pinging us about your query. Thanks!

-James Sutter,
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

I'd also mention that this week is the deadline for the Shackled City Hardcover, and I'm sure the Classics book is in the fast n' furious as well. Plus, summer is prime vacation time. Busy busy time for everyone.

Ya got that right... while we've got a couple of freelancers working on Shackled City and the Compendium (myself and the distinguished Mr. Mearls), it's still been sucking up a significant amount of time for Erik, James, Sean and the rest.... It seems to me that the staff here is small enough that if you dump extra work into the mix, EVERYBODY's affected.

As far as submissions go, a couple of notes.... We're currently trying to institute some new tracking systems for Dungeon to make things a little bit speedier. The hope is that once it's up and running you'll get a "submission received!" email from somebody (probably me) within days of it showing up in our in-box. Actually EVALUATING the submissions may continue to take quite a while (as it should, if it's a difficult choice between a bunch of great ideas, right?) but even if it's three months, you're still ahead of the game... the AVERAGE wait time on a fiction journal's slush pile is at least 3 months, and I've heard that novel manuscripts can linger there for years. And longer wait times frequently mean that you've made it through the first few rounds of cuts!

That said, if it's been three months and you haven't heard that your manuscript has at least been received, go ahead and 'ping' us again about it. When you do, you might as well attach the document again - it's a sad fact that with all the craziness around here, pieces (particularly email ones) occasionally do slip through the cracks.

A couple other quick tips:

*Don't bother writing a query for a campaign workbook submission - save yourself some time and just write it and send it. It's hard to evaluate an email that just says "I want to write an article about weird dungeon traps or funky treasures". Not only is that pretty vague, but the editors have no way of evaluating your writing ability/style.

*As above - use the full two-page proposal format for adventure ideas, not just a few sentences in an email.

*In fact, attach any of your ideas as a word document - printing out emails sucks.

*Include that Standard Disclosure Form!

*Proofread!

That's about all I've got, except for one last thing... I know a bunch of rejections can make it seem like you're just being chewed up and spit out by the Dungeon and Dragon machine, but rest assured that you're not just faceless manuscripts to the folks here... we read your stuff, we know your name, and we remember the next time you write something. And we genuinely WANT you to succeed - you should see the dance that gets done when I run across a totally amazing submission in the slush pile. Ask anybody. :)

So get out there and submit already!

-James Sutter,
Editorial Intern, Dungeon

I'm going to weigh in with Amber here. In the past my groups have had a major history of 'fudged' rolls (both when I was playing and when I was DMing) and while it definitely served its purpose - keeping everybody alive/playing/following the general idea of the campaign - that's only one way to play, and after a while we all started to feel like something was missing. It wasn't until we stopped fudging rolls that we realized what it was - the sense of DANGER! Once you've fudged enough rolls to keep everyone happy and involved, the players start to realize that they can never die (because the DM doesn't want them to have to sit out) and, even if they try not to let it affect the way the play, it still begins manifesting itself. Combat is less nerve-wracking. Emergencies are less urgent. The fudging method has its place, but if you haven't tried playing it straight, I highly encourage it.
As for min-maxing, I've never really gone in for that (in theory because I'm a 'roleplayer' first, but really because I just don't want to spend the time necessary to learn how) but I think that it's only really a problem if ONE member of the party is min-maxed. Nothing's more annoying than being relegated to 'sidekick' just because another player beefed up his character. At the same time, however, if EVERYBODY's at the same (albeit insanely high) level o' goodness... what's the problem? Just up the encounter levels or, as Amber said, find yourself a new group.
Finally, in terms of characters playing straight-up hack n' slash as opposed to roleplaying... I feel your pain. One of my long-time gaming companions went through a phase where he didn't even bother describing his actions in combat - just made a chopping gesture every round. While that's a little much, sometimes the best campaigns are the ones where your carefully constructed plot is blown to hell by the PC's wailing on somebody crucial or running away from the fight you'd set up for them. I almost think being a DM is more fun in that situation - flying by the seat of your pants, reacting to character actions rather than them plodding through whatever you've set up... there's something to be said for games where even the DM is surprised at the outcome. If you're really attached to whatever you had set up - change some names and recycle it later when the PCs aren't feeling quite so inventive! :)
Alright, that's my two cents (plus about three bucks) - I'm going to get back to this whole 'job' thing.

-James

Heya folks-

My first encounter with the Adventure Path was ripping the text from the old magazines for James Jacobs and Co. to work with, but I've got to say that I think this book is going to be amazing. I've never been big on buying adventures, but these kept sucking me in (and, consequently, wasting time reading instead of working :). I sincerely hope that word of mouth spreads out to people beyond just those who've already bought the Adventure Math magazines... I imagine I'm not the only one who could be set straight regarding pre-made adventures.

As far as the price goes - this sounds like the standard greatest hits' dilemma. Any time your favorite artist releases a 'best of' album (usually with one new song), you have to decide whether you pick it up, knowing you've already got most of the material already. The way I think about those albums is:

a) I'm helping to support the artists I love.
b) If the band's good enough, that one new song might just be worth the whole price of the CD.
c) As somebody on here already mentioned, greatest hits albums aren't just for the die-hard fan... the people who really benefit are the casual enthusiasts who pick it up and suddenly realize what they've been missing.
d) Sometimes you WANT all the best songs collected in one place, as opposed to digging through all your albums.

Whether or not that's enough for you is a personal decision, but I think greatest hits discs like U2's "Best of 1980-1990" is one of the greatest albums in existence... and I'm hoping the Adventure Path book can inspire the same reaction.

-James

FINALLY! I never talk to <i>anybody</i> who knows who Joel Rosenberg is, let alone actively enjoys him.... Though Richard A. Knaak was my first fantasy book, Rosenberg was a close second, and he's always been the epitome of the genre where I'm concerned - plenty of other folks do great work, have amazing new worlds and ideas, but something about his writing style just clicks with me. Both GotF and KotHW are equally amazing - I can remember being in about third grade and crying at the end of "The Heir Apparent". I think I became an English major just to try and write that scene someday. :)

I haven't had a chance to hit "Paladins" yet - anybody know if it's any good? I know the review in <i>AS</i> wasn't that laudatory, but I'm seriously hoping that's just a fluke.... :P

-James